jump on any bus ..its sure to be the the service you want.....

[windy miller]

 Q: How long is the journey from John Lewis (Sol) to Solihull Rail station?  4 mins?
 NOT if you jump on the wrong bus by mistake(5)like I did today!!(Thurs) (bus pass)  
 I  had a wonderfully scenic trip (in the dark) via Bentley Heath/ Monkspath/ Cranmore//Shirley/Cole bank/Wake green/Sarehole /Yardley wood Rd (where the relief (AG) driver arrived 8 mins late)!!!at which point I was beginning to wonder if I'd put the cat out before I left home?. then continued in the care of a (European)? employee via Sparkhill /Sparkbrook/~/Digbeth /Moor st. HOORAY!!! Should've gone to specsavers    

[Stu]

This kind of misfortune rarely happens for me now!

There was one occasion though many years ago now, where I found myself in Erdington at a works colleague's post-pub "house party".

I was at the time a bit unfamiliar with the area, I'd travelled there with workmates via taxi, so maybe I lost my bearings a little. Anyway, I decided to leave early, around 9pm or so, and thought I'd head back home to Bearwood on the bus.

I knew that if I headed back towards Sutton New Road then I could jump on a bus to Birmingham and then get another one back to Bearwood. And in my head I thought "that'll be quicker than getting the 11".

So I got to Sutton New Road and duly waited for the first bus that came along. I think it was a 114 that turned up, I'm sure it said 'Birmingham' on the destination, so I just got on board. I had a bit of a sinking feeling when after about ten minutes we hadn't got to Salford Circus, and looking out the window I had no real idea where I was!

Anyway my suspicions about maybe having been on the 'wrong side' of Sutton New Road were confirmed when the bus arrived in Sutton Coldfield town centre and terminated.

I guess I was lucky I left when I did, because if I'd left it another hour or so I might not have got back home that evening at all! By that point I'd sobered up a little, enough to find the right bus stop for buses to Birmingham, and luckily I didn't have to wait long for one. Arrived in city centre in time to get the last bus towards Bearwood.

Never made the same mistake since!

[2206]

So I got to Sutton New Road and duly waited for the first bus that came along. I think it was a 114 that turned up, I'm sure it said 'Birmingham' on the destination, so I just got on board. I had a bit of a sinking feeling when after about ten minutes we hadn't got to Salford Circus, and looking out the window I had no real idea where I was!

Anyway my suspicions about maybe having been on the 'wrong side' of Sutton New Road were confirmed when the bus arrived in Sutton Coldfield town centre and terminated.

115/Penns Lane service?
Isn't 114 partly now the BC X14 along the Kingsbury Road and past Pype Hayes?

[Stu]

115/Penns Lane service?
Isn't 114 partly now the BC X14 along the Kingsbury Road and past Pype Hayes?

You're missing the point of this topic, my experience was from around 15 to 20 years ago!

[Rachvince53]

Bringing this thread up to date, I was in Stourbridge on Monday waiting for a bus to Merry Hill when the Diamond 25 pulled in. Not knowing the exact route, I boarded this and, due to the closure of the A458 Enville Road towards Wollaston, had a nice tour around the entire Stourbridge Ring Road and South Stourbridge hitting numerous roadworks en-route. A journey which should have taken about 25 minutes actually took over 40 minutes!  

[Stu]

I can sort of sympathise with @windy miller here, there was a time when the layout of bus stops in Solihull town centre was pretty straight-forward.

When I first started regularly commuting to work in Shirley from Acocks Green, it was pretty much the case that ALL bus services arriving in Solihull that terminated at the train station would use the same stop on the south side of Station Road, which also provided one stop with a very frequent service to the station.

It was also the case that the next stop along was where ALL the bus services that headed out of Solihull via Blossomfield Road would call at. I could arrive at the one stop on the 30/S3/37, walk to the next one and then get the 6/76/166/S9 to Marshall Lake Road (the 49 and 69 also called there but while they went to Shirley, they didn't go via Marshall Lake Road).

But still there was some uniformity. Nowadays, we have the 6 and the 49/76 using different sides of Station Road.

[Rachvince53]

I can sort of sympathise with @windy miller here, there was a time when the layout of bus stops in Solihull town centre was pretty straight-forward.

When I first started regularly commuting to work in Shirley from Acocks Green, it was pretty much the case that ALL bus services arriving in Solihull that terminated at the train station would use the same stop on the south side of Station Road, which also provided one stop with a very frequent service to the station.

It was also the case that the next stop along was where ALL the bus services that headed out of Solihull via Blossomfield Road would call at. I could arrive at the one stop on the 30/S3/37, walk to the next one and then get the 6/76/166/S9 to Marshall Lake Road (the 49 and 69 also called there but while they went to Shirley, they didn't go via Marshall Lake Road).

But still there was some uniformity. Nowadays, we have the 6 and the 49/76 using different sides of Station Road.

Yes, the situation in Solihull is crazy. All buses serving the railway station should at least be on the same side of the road.

[windy miller]

 Good to see I'm not the first!!.The screen/vocal info (normally available behind the stairs) was out of service for the first 20 minutes and gave me no information Consequently I had no idea where I had been /where I was/or where I was heading. After ten minutes I assumed there must have been a bomb scare at solihull station and passengers diverted to olton/dorridge?..Maybe There was a choice of movie../drinks trolley after half an hour?. ..Nah
..The current traffic chaos (AKA Digbeth) only made things worse..